Beam-shaping technique for plasma magneto-electric dipole planar array based on time-modulation and particle swarm optimization

In this paper, an approach for the synthesis of desired pattern in 4D antenna linear and planar arrays is proposed, taking into account practical element models. The element of the array is a plasma ME-dipole operating in the band 1.3–3.65 GHz with circular polarization characteristics of 13.3%, from 2.2 GHz to 2.52 GHz with 95% radiation efficiency. A linear arrangement of 16-element spaced by 0.65λ connected with 16 RF-switches with periodic switching frequency of 100 MHz is investigated using different switching time sequences. A planar array consists of 8 × 8 plasma ME-dipoles are designed for different beam shapes. The approach is based on the combination of the particle optimization technique (PSO) and the full-wave simulation using the finite integral technique (FIT). The time sequences are optimized by the PSO algorithm and the patterns at the fundamental frequency and sideband frequencies are synthesized and exported automatically to the array analyzes using the FIT technique. The time-domain excitations can be decomposed into a Fourier series in frequency-domain, thus obtaining equivalent complex excitation distributions at different frequencies. This paper introduces the applicability of planar array in the beam-shaping. Chebyshev, Taylor and binomial planar array are presented. This paper focuses on the pattern synthesis of 4D planar arrays taking into account the mutual coupling between the elements.